


Darkwing Duck and the Ghoulish Ghost Cat of St. Canard

by RowenaZahnrei



Category: Darkwing Duck (Cartoon)
Genre: Awkward Alliances, Awkward Dates, Cat, Childhood Memories, Gen, Ghoul, Halloween, Investigation, Monster - Freeform, Mystery, Past Partnerships, ghost - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-26 21:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12566572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowenaZahnrei/pseuds/RowenaZahnrei
Summary: In this Halloween-themed story, a ghoulish ghost cat stalks the streets of St. Canard. But, is this spooky spectre a genuine ghost...or something even worse? To get to the bottom of this mystery, Darkwing Duck may have to turn to some unlikely sources for assistance. Will his stubborn quest run the risk of rousing the wrath of his sorceress sweetheart? Stay Tuned! :D





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Darkwing Duck or any of its characters. I'm just here to play. Please don't sue me or steal my story. Thanks! :)
> 
> NOTE: I've been getting a few requests lately for a sequel to my previous story "Total Reboot." I've actually been thinking a lot about what a sequel to that story might look like ever since I finished writing it. Unfortunately, no good plot ideas have ever really jumped out at me. After the most recent sequel request, though, my thoughts started turning toward Halloween, and the intriguing character Morgana Macawber. And, out of all this thinking sprang an idea for this story! It's not exactly a sequel, but it does feature Elmo and Anita Sputterspark, and Megavolt and Darkwing will eventually have to come together (a la "Frequency Fiends") to investigate a common menace, so it is related. I don't know how long this story will ultimately be at this point, but I hope you'll enjoy it! :)

**Darkwing Duck and the Ghoulish Ghost Cat of St. Canard**

**A Halloween Story by Rowena Zahnrei**

Chapter One

_The case of the Ghoulish Ghost Cat has its start some twenty-five years ago. It was the eve of All Hallow's Eve...also known as the day before Halloween. Young Drake Mallard had left his home that morning with his prized, limited edition Super Pig lunch box in his hand and high hopes for the school day ahead._

_Unfortunately, those hopes were to be dashed the moment young Drake set foot on the playground. Before he had a chance to tell his friends of the genuine, official fan club approved Super Pig costume he intended to don the following night, Drake Mallard found himself cruely accosted by his schoolyard nemesis: Ham String..._

"Drakey is a dweeb! Drakey is a dweeb! Come on, Drakey, say it back to me! Say that you're a dweeb!"

"Knock it off, Ham!" cried nine-year-old Drake Mallard, jumping in place to try to reach the blocky, plastic box the larger pig dangled just out of his reach. "Give me back my Super Pig lunch box!"

"You want it back, you have to say it! You have to tell everyone in school that you're a dweeb," Ham taunted, smiling broadly at the circle of kids who had gathered by the playground slide to watch and cheer him on. One girl, Preena Lot, batted her eyelashes at the hammy young pig and giggled.

"I'm not gonna say it," Drake said, jumping and reaching for all he was worth. "You can't make me!"

Ham started climbing the slide's ladder, holding the disputed lunch box over his head the whole time.

"You have to say it, or I'm gonna smash this stupid lunch box for good," he threatened.

"NO!" Drake shrieked. "Please! It's a _collectible!_ "

"Do it, Ham!" Preena shouted. "Smash the stupid lunch box!"

The gathered kids took up the cry: "Smash it! Smash it!"

"No!" Drake cried, scrambling frantically around and under the slide, trying to stay under his endangered property as Ham held it first over one side of the safety railing, then another. "Don't smash it! Don't smash it!"

"Um, excuse me," a raspy voice piped up from the flat platform at the top of the slide. "Would you mind taking your malicious bullying to some other part of the playground? Some of us are trying to read up here."

The young rat who had been sitting on the platform climbed to his feet to frown at his unwelcome intruder, a thick book tucked under his skinny arm.

"Oh yeah?" The pig bristled, taking a threatening stance at the mouth of the slide. "Why don't you make me, Elmo?"

The young rat's face took on a brief, calculating look.

"Well, OK," he said gamely. "Since you asked."

The pig snorted his amusement.

"You mean, you actually wanna figh— _Whoa - what!_ "

Ham suddenly found himself slipping backwards down the slide, Elmo Sputterspark's heavy book jammed painfully against his stomach.

Noting the startled bully had dropped the disputed lunch box on the platform, Elmo picked it up and held it over the railing's side.

"Here you go, Drake," he said, dropping it into the young duck's relieved arms. Apparently oblivious to the crowd's disappointment, he then looked balefully down at his fallen foe and said, "Um, can someone please hand me up my book? I was hoping to finish Chapter Four before we had to line up for morning attendance."

"You want your book back, Sparky?" Ham snapped, angrily brushing playground sand from his clothes as he climbed to his feet. "I'll give you back your book!"

He lobbed the heavy book at the rat with all his might, but the slide was so high, Elmo had to lean precariously far over the railing's edge to grab its flapping cover.

"Thanks, Ham," he said, flipping through the pages to find his place. "But, please don't call me 'Sparky.'"

The flustered young pig seemed to swell.

"Why you, I oughta—!"

The first bell rang, and the gathered kids ran to take their places on the blacktop behind the third grade line.

"Oh, darn it," Elmo groaned, reluctantly closing his book before sliding down the slide to lope miserably after the rest of his classmates. "That hamfisted Ham String wasted all my reading time!"

"Hey, Spark— I mean, Elmo! Wait up a second!" Drake called, jogging to catch up with him.

"Huh?" the sulky rat said, unaccustomed to other kids greeting him in a voluntary social context. "Oh. Hi, Drake."

"I just wanted to say thanks," the young duck said. "You know, for getting my lunch box back from that jerk."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Things will be different around here when I'm big," Drake said. "You'll see. I'm going to scour the streets of bullying brutes, just like Super Pig!"

"Uh huh."

"You mind if I ask you," Drake said. "What are you always reading up there?"

For the first time, Elmo seemed to actually look at the duck beside him.

"You really want to know?" he asked.

"Well, yeah," Drake said. "I mean, you're up there every morning with those books of yours, and almost every day at recess. I'm curious."

"Nosy's more like it," the rat mumbled, but he obligingly held out his book.

"Normally, I read biographies and scientific works," he said. "I'm particularly fascinated by the disputes over alternating and direct current that arose between the great scientists Nicola Tesla and Thomas Edison. But, with Halloween coming up on Tuesday, I've switched topics in favor of the supernatural."

" _Ghost Sightings, Alien Abductions, And The Fear Of Things That Go Bump In The Night: A Collection of Objective Studies from the Realms of Psychology, Neurology, and Quantum Physics._ " Drake sounded out the lengthy title with some difficulty. "Phew! Kinda heavy stuff for third grade, don't you think?"

"I can't help it if hardcover weighs more than paperback!" Elmo retorted, grabbing his book back and shoving it into his backpack as they took their place at the back of the line. "Why must you people continually harp on the size of my books! I should think you'd be more interested in what's inside, but no! No one ever wants to play electromagnetism with me, or hold a mock conference to discuss the laws of thermodynamics! Gah! Is it any wonder I'm forced to sit alone at the top of the slide!"

"Hey, hey, calm down! I didn't mean anything," Drake said. "Sheesh. But, what about that ghost book. Anything good in there?"

Elmo paused to think, cupping his jaw with his hand.

"Well," he said, "there is this one story about some horrifying, ghoulish ghost cat that stalks the streets of St. Canard every Halloween night. But, you wouldn't be interested in that."

"Who says I wouldn't!" Drake exclaimed.

"You mean…" Elmo blinked at him. "You'd actually want to accompany me?"

"Well, sure I— Wait." Drake frowned. "Accompany you where?"

"Why, to observe the horrifying, ghoulish ghost cat with our own eyes, of course!" Elmo said. "According to the book, it's possible this ghost cat is really nothing more than a peculiar weather phenomenon known as St. Elmo's Fire - great name, don't you think?" He grinned. " No one's yet done an actual study, so they can't say for sure. It might be an actual ghost. But, personally, I'd prefer the former to be true. I'd love to see a luminous plasma discharge right up close. Wouldn't you?"

"Well…" Drake hedged.

"Great!" Elmo cheered, his whole face suddenly one beaming smile. "Ha ha! At last! A Dr. Watson to my Sherlock Holmes! Together, we'll uncover what's really behind that ghost cat legend!"

"Hey, hey, hey, wait just one minute!" Drake exclaimed. "If we're gonna do this, _I_ want to be Sherlock Holmes!"

"Roles, once assigned, are not debatable," Elmo stated so quickly it took a moment for Drake to process. By the time he had, it was too late to protest. The rat had already moved on.

"Meet me at my house on Halloween night. Eleven forty-five, sharp!" he said. "My mother will drive us down to the waterfront, where our investigation will proceed at midnight."

"Hold on," Drake said. "You want us to go to the docks at midnight on _Halloween night_ , and your mother is OK with this?"

"She will be if you come along," Elmo said. "She's always saying I need to enhance my social skills. I figure securing a partner in this endeavor should qualify. So, see you then?"

Drake looked deeply conflicted.

"Well…I suppose I can try to sneak out—"

The second bell cut him off, the teachers finished tallying up their attendance sheets, and the entire school began their daily march into the building, starting with the kindergarteners and moving up to the sixth grade.

As he followed Elmo through the door, Drake clutched his lunch box close.

All his life, Drake Mallard had longed for a life of danger and daring heroics, just like his hero Super Pig. He'd just imagined that danger would be way off in the future somewhere: a future where he was big and tough and smart enough to handle any foe that crossed his path.

Not mere days away, hunting a horrible, ghoulish ghost with a weirdo nerd like Elmo Sputterspark…

But, he couldn't back out. Not when Elmo was so set on going. He'd spoken so often of his dreams of becoming a heroic sleuth - how would it look if the science nerd went ghost hunting while he, Drake Mallard, stayed home in his bed?

He really would be Drake the Dweeb.

...But, at least, he'd be a living dweeb.

Drake sighed and looked down at the image on his lunch box.

"What would you do, Super Pig?"

To Be Continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> References Include - Darkwing Duck: Clash Reunion; Paraducks
> 
> What do you think so far? Please review! :D


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much! I'm so glad you like my story so far! :D  
> I hope you enjoy this next part!

The wind blew cold and the moon hung high as Drake Mallard rode his bike up to the corner fire hydrant that marked the end of his familiar neighborhood.

He stopped there and swallowed hard, warily watching a group of costumed older kids pass by, their pillowcases bulging with candy.

This was the latest Drake had ever been out, and the farthest he'd ever gone on his own. Beyond that red hydrant, the city stretched out as uncharted territory.

He didn't have to do this, of course. If he turned back now, he could sneak back to his room and no one would ever know he'd been gone.

But, that would be the coward's way out.

And, Drake Mallard was no coward.

Drake straightened his shoulders and resumed peddling, drawing strength from his blue Super Pig mask as he passed the hydrant and turned the corner toward the big, busy, two-lane road he'd been warned repeatedly never to cross without a grown-up.

Well, he crossed at the light and sailed on down the hill, his Official Fan Club approved Super Pig cape flapping heroically behind him. He flew past the pizza place, past the deli and the corner market, the bakery and the bank, all the way to the new, tree-lined neighborhood behind the bowling alley. There, not far from a small power substation, he found Elmo Sputterspark's address.

"This is it," Drake said as he dismounted and balanced his bike on its kickstand. "No going back…"

Elmo's front door loomed in front of him, the frosted glass shimmering orangey-gold in the light from the streetlamps lining the street.

Drake glanced around at the unfamiliar houses and trees all around him, a fresh thrill of fear making his tail feathers quiver. Despite the moon and the streetlamps, the whole street seemed dark and eerily deserted. Even the groups of teenagers he'd passed on his way there seemed to have called it a night.

The young duck swallowed hard, then climbed the stairs and raised a trembling fist to the door.

_…knock—_

The door swung open before he could rap a second time.

"Ha!" Elmo cried, wearing a Sherlock Holmes costume Drake had to grudgingly admit rather suited his long nose and lanky figure. "So, you decided to turn up after all! But, what are you doing in that garish get up? I thought you were coming as Dr. Watson!"

"No way!" Drake said, drawing himself up. "Super Pig is nobody's side kick!"

"Hey, suit yourself. At least you got here on time. Come on, I'll take you to meet my mother."

He grabbed Drake by the arm, pulling him through a rather cluttered living room and kitchen up a flight of stairs to what the designers of the house had probably intended to be a master bedroom.

Elmo's mother had removed the walls to the neighboring bedrooms on either side, expanding the already large room into a truly impressive home laboratory that took up most of the second floor. The lab was stuffed to the brim with complicated, and expensive, looking equipment. There was so much going on in there, Drake's eyes weren't sure what to look at first.

"See, Ma?" Elmo said, pushing Drake ahead of him toward a tall, skinny figure in a white lab coat. "This is Drake Mallard. I told you he was real."

The figure turned to look at them. Her features were mostly obscured by a pair of tinted lab goggles, but Drake noticed she had a long nose, like her son, and she'd clipped her hair back in a rather messy bun.

"Why, so he is!" she exclaimed merrily, taking Drake by the shoulders and setting him down on a nearby lab stool. "Hello Drake, dear! I'm Elmo's mother, Dr. Anita Sputterspark."

"She's the chair of the electrical engineering department over at the University of Calisota, St. Canard," Elmo said. "She and her team were just awarded this big grant to start researching potential alternative energy sources. That's why all the stuff…"

"That's…pretty amazing," Drake managed through his disorientation, staring at a bubbling vial of oily something that smelled like a fast food deep fryer.

"Oh,"Anita sighed happily, "I thought this day would never come! My Elmo has finally found a best friend!"

She beamed so hard, Drake didn't dare correct her.

"I'm sure you'll be wanting a sleep over," she said. "There are so many 'party-sized' snack recipes I've been dying to try! Oh, and movies - you're going to want movies. The scarier the better on Halloween night, right boys?"

"Actually," Elmo said, "Drake's really been wanting to observe a unique weather phenomenon down by the waterfront. If you drive us there, I'm sure Drake would love to stay and watch scary movies afterwards. Isn't that right, Drake?"

Drake felt too overwhelmed to think straight.

"Uh…yeah…I guess..."

"Oh? What weather phenomenon?" she asked curiously, staring straight at the flustered young duck.

"Well, um, it's..." Drake stammered.

"It's a recurring instance of St. Elmo's Fire," Elmo told her. "It's said to happen only once a year, around midnight on Halloween night. That's why we've gotta go check it out! Well, that, and it has my name."

He grinned.

"Actually, honey, that's just a coincidence," Anita said, "St. Elmo's Fire was named after St. Erasmus of Formia, the patron saint of sailors. St. Elmo and St. Erasmo are two Italian versions of that name."

"Yeah, well, it's still cool. Huh, Drake," Elmo said, and gave Drake a sharp jab with his elbow.

"Ow! I...uh, I mean yeah!" Drake said. "It's, uh... It's pretty cool. Uh, ma'am."

Elmo frowned at his apparent lack of enthusiasm, but his mother didn't seem to notice.

"You're right, Drake," she said happily. "It does sound quite 'cool'. Of course I'll drive you there. Elmo, honey, do you still have that weather and wind speed meter you got for your sixth birthday? Oh - and your waterproof laser rangefinder and inclinometer for accurate distance measurements?"

"Right here, Ma," he said, holding up a cell-phone-sized device, then a blocky object Drake thought looked kind of like binoculars before stuffing them both into his backpack. "I've also got my lightning detector and a few uninflated weather balloons."

"Notebooks?" she asked. "You'll each need one to jot down your data and observations. Oh, and where's that all-weather pen with the LED light…"

"It's pretty clear tonight," Elmo said. "I think we'll be good with pencils."

"Never take chances with the weather, sweetie," she said. "Especially down by the water! A stray wave or sudden rain shower and: poof! All your data's smudged and drippy! Ah, here they are!"

She triumphantly held out two pens, one of which Elmo obligingly handed to Drake.

Drake stared at it.

Until that moment, very little about Elmo's strange, nocturnal expedition had actually seemed, well, _real_ to him. To be honest, he'd half expected Elmo's mother to put an immediate kibosh on the idea of two nine-year-old boys heading down to the docks of St. Canard on Halloween night. Any normal parent would probably have dashed for the phone by now, if only to confirm Drake really did have permission to stay the night.

Yet, here she was, not only encouraging her son's batty idea, but offering scary movies and party snacks afterwards. On a school night, no less!

"I don't believe it..." he muttered to himself. "It's Halloween night, and I'm sitting in this crazy lab with a real mad scientist...!"

"Elmo, why don't you show your friend down to the garage," Dr. Sputterspark said, swapping her tinted goggles for a pair of thick glasses and re-twisting her hair into a quick, efficient spiral. "I'll turn off a few things here and be right with you."

"Yes! Thanks, Ma!" Elmo cheered, cackling gleefully as he led Drake back down the stairs.

"You see, you see!" he said, literally bouncing up and down with excitement. "I told you it would work! She's so glad I brought you here, she'll let us do whatever we want! So, you ready to chase down that ghoulish ghost cat?"

"Well, I... That is..." Drake winced. "Your mom seems really nice, you know? Maybe we should stay here and watch those movies..."

Elmo frowned.

"Aw, what's this?" he said. "Is Drakey scared? Is that it? Does little Drakey want to go back home?"

"What! No!" Drake exclaimed, flushing beet red behind his feathers. "I can go anywhere you can go!"

"Even if it might be _dangerous_?"

"If it is, then let's get dangerous!" Drake declared, mimicking Super Pig's most heroic pose. "I ain't afraid of no ghost!"

"You're sure you won't flake?" Elmo pressed, crossing his arms over his Sherlock Holmes outfit.

"I'm sure," Drake told him.

"You're really, really sure?"

"Yes! I'm really, really sure!"

"Then follow me," the costumed rat said, grabbing a bag of cookies as they strode through the kitchen. "The car's this way."

To Be Continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Until next time, thanks so much for reading! Your reviews are always welcome! :D


End file.
